Rework ~ the future of work
Every so often you read a book and…”click” many things fall into place! Rework is one of those great books and I highly recommend that anyone who runs a business read it.
It’s credible
Although probably written with the wannabe get-rich-quick Internet entrepreneur in mind, it contains some of the best advice that anyone starting a business can get. Written in a no-nonsense down-to-earth style we are introduced to a new way of setting up, growing and running a successful business. It’s credible because the authors, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, have done it the way they tell it. They have created several innovative and commercially successful online tools, notably Basecamp. In ten years they’ve survived two recessions, the internet bubble bursting and shifts in business models. They reject the “real world” way to run a business!
Controversial wisdom
It’s unlikely that any MBA school is teaching what’s in this book and this is a shame for the future of entrepreneurship at a time when we need more new businesses and jobs. It’s full of insights and controversial wisdom such as: reject growth, budgets, meetings, boards of directors, external investors, salespeople and advertising. Now, I bet you’re starting to get real curious!
You don’t need an MBA
As someone with an MBA from a top business school I’m privileged to have learned so much about business and had the opportunity to apply this in a large multi-national. However, Rework is probably the most useful business book I’ve read in years and it should be on the reading list at any reputable business school. There are no theories. Just practical advice. It’s also consistent with what the early developers of NLP discovered when they modelled the strategies of successful people:
1. Have a clear, well-formed outcome
2. Take [massive] action
3. Use your sensory acuity and notice things
4. Be flexible, adapt based on your ongoing feedback
5. Operate from a physiology & psychology of excellence
It’s impossible
When I set up Wide Circle as a virtual business so many people told me that it’s impossible to build a business without an office and lots of full-time employees. Eight years later, Rework demonstrates that this is now the emerging model of how to build a successful business. In addition to the approach outlined in Rework, I apply the principles and skills of NLP daily. In fact I’m convinced if you only read Rework and trained as an NLP Master Practitioner you’ll have all the skill you need to be a successful business person. You can hire experts to do the specialist tasks.
Based on how well this book is written it wouldn’t surprise me if both of the authors had learned how to practice NLP.
Rework is a superb example of Thinking differently for a change…
